Welcome to the Kindness Movement
Spreading Kindness. Shredding the Stigma. One Kindness at a Time.
Plant Kindness, Let It Grow
A community gathering space where kindness grows, connections are made, and every person is reminded: you matter.
PAINT KINDNESS ROCKS EVENTS!
Bring your family, your friends, your neighbors. Every rock you paint becomes part of something meaningful. Spread kindness one rock at a time.
What Is the Community Kindness Garden?
We believe a single kind word at the right moment can change lives.
At Surf the Earth Mental Health Community, our mission is simple: spread kindness and shred the stigma around mental health — one act of kindness at a time. Asking for help is brave!
What started as one garden has grown into a movement. Community members paint rocks with messages of kindness and leave them in the garden for someone they may never meet. Visitors are welcome to take a rock that speaks to them and leave one of their own.
Come visit. Take a rock. Share a rock. Leave a rock. Help us spread kindness across Northern Michigan and beyond.
Every garden is built with community hands, community hearts, and community voices shaping each step. They’re places to pause, connect, and start conversations, and they keep growing.
A heartfelt thank you to our community and the many partners, volunteers, and supporters who have helped bring these gardens to life. None of this happens without you.
Plant kindness. Let it grow.
Kindness Takes Root at Boyne City High School
Woodshop Students who built the structure
Students during Service Day who helped assemble the garden
Complete!
Kindness has found a new home inside Boyne City High School.
This fall, students built an indoor Community Kindness Garden, a space in the school for connection, conversation, and encouragement. Like our other gardens, it is filled with hand-painted rocks carrying messages of kindness. Students and staff can take a rock that speaks to them, share one with a friend, or leave one of their own.
The project was a true team effort under the guidance of woodshop teacher Chad Longstreet, students designed and built the garden structure, assembling stage one on October 16, 2026. Local artist Kim Coates painted the garden sign, and Preston Feather Building Center of Boyne City donated materials for the build. Signage and finishing touches are still to come.
The garden fits naturally with this year’s Portrait of a Rambler focus on compassion. It offers students a simple, everyday reminder that kindness matters and that asking for help is brave.
With gratitude
The Boyne City High School students who designed and built the garden
Chad Longstreet, woodshop teacher, for guiding the students through the build
Principal Adam Stefanski, for welcoming the garden into the school
Syndal Mills, LMSW, school-based mental health therapist with the Health Department of Northwest Michigan
Preston Feather Building Center of Boyne City, for donating materials
Kim Coates, local artist, for painting the garden sign
Plant kindness. Let it grow.
CHECK OUT OUR FAVORITE ROCK PAINTING SUPPLIES
Want to start painting rocks at home or with your group and need supplies? Use our Amazon link—part of each purchase supports Surf the Earth Mental Health Community.
One message
at just the right moment
can change someone's entire day, outlook, life
-The Kindness Rocks Project® Mission
Anyone Can Paint a Kindness Rock
Painting kindness rocks is something anyone can do — at home with your family, in a classroom, with friends, or on your own. This simple guide walks you through how to get started and how to place your rocks in the Community Kindness Garden. Click the PDF to get started.
Create Your Ripple
Every contribution is a ripple — and ripples reach further than you think. Your gift funds the materials, artwork, and installation that bring The Kindness Garden to life, plus the ongoing programming that grows alongside it.
Help us build something rooted, visible, and lasting in Boyne. Thank you for being part of it.
Kindness Garden Locations
The Ripple Continues…
-
Boyne District Library
201 East Main Street
Boyne City, Michigan 49712
The Boyne District Library graciously gave us space to create this inviting space to spread kindness in our community. -
Boyne City High School
Right inside the entryway of Boyne City High School, students and staff are greeted by a Kindness Garden built by students in the wood shop class. It’s a place to take a painted rock, leave one behind, and share a little hope and encouragement with every person who walks through the doors.
With special thanks to Syndal Mills, Chad Longstreet and his wood shop and drafting students, and Preston Feather for helping bring this garden to life
-
Inspiring Inner Growth Yoga Studio
231 State St.
Petoskey, MI 49770
Meagan Krzywosinski will be partnering with Surf the Earth to create a kindness garden coming soon! -
North Central Michigan College
1515 Howard St.
Petoskey, MI 49770
Look for the large painted rock on the library lawn — that's where our newest Kindness Garden lives. Started by Joelle Drader on the first day of school 2026, in partnership with Surf the Earth, this sacred space is filled with rocks painted by NCMC students carrying messages of hope and kindness. -
Holland Hospital Outpatient Behavioral Health
854 Washington Ave STE 330,
Holland, MI 49423
Healther Holt has created a kindness Rock station in the employee lounge and places the rocks by the entrance. The Ripple continues….
Join the Care Crew
Community Supporters
-
Kiwanis Club of Boyne City
Proud Supporter
-
Boyne City Ace Hardware
Proud Supporter
-
Boyne District Library
Partner & Location
-
Boyne Valley Lions Club
Proud Sponsor
-
Preston Feather Building Center - Boyne City
Proud Supporter of High School Kindness Garden
